Currently, the U.S Goverment spends 24.5 billion dollars to enforce the drug war.
Legally, the criminalisation of Marijuana is a con. In 2012, 1,552,432 marijuana related arrests were documented compared to a 2011 estimate of 1,531,251 arrests. 2012"s provided statistics estimates an increase of 21,181 marijuana possession arrests (FBI). While one marijuana arrest was made every 42 seconds in 2012, only 40% of the 84,000 forcible rapes, 55% of the aggravated assaults and 62.5% of murders were solved (Nelson). A Marijuana Policy Directer quoted, "...so many violent crimes remain unsolved. Every second spent arresting and prosecuting adults for marijuana is time that could have been spent preventing and solving real crimes" (Nelson.) Why are we arresting a civilian for smoking a joint whilst a man can run free after they violated another's rights?
Another reason law enforcement has concern for civilians under the influence of Marijuana is their driving abilities. It is fallacious to assume people who drive under the influence of Marijuana are incapable. Studies provided have shown "Cannabis leads to a more cautious style of driving, [but] it has a negative impact on decision time and trajectory. This in itself does not mean that drivers under the influence of cannabis represent a traffic safety risk" (NORML). Why is Marijuana banned when over ten thousand people are killed by drunk driving crashes per year? (GET INVOLVED).
A theory exists Marijuana is a "gateway" to more dangerous and potent drugs. No statistics on Marijuana as a gateway drug, it is most likely a generalization.
The earlier comment the government spends a total of $24.5 billion of taxpayer money to end this useless drug war is infuriating. These statistics do not even demonstrate how this endless war devalues the dollar, or mention the billions of dollars the court system must pay to prosecute these supposed "criminals." "Criminals" who did not violate or harm another's rights. The war is over. The simple proof of this; simply walk into a bookstore, venture for the gardening section and observe the pile of books on "How to grow Weed."
People incorrectly assume if the government were to legalize weed, everyone would use it. Basically it"s the thought "I don"t want to use weed, so I need the government to take care of me. I need these laws!" The Prohibition of alcohol only withstood the people"s fury for a grand total of eleven years. People finally stood up and said "I don"t need a law prohibiting me from exercising my liberty as long as I don"t violate another's constitutional rights." Government involvement in the natural rights a human was born with is unconstitutional.
In fact, Government involvement in marijuana, the leading drug, can only logically help the black markets and drug cartels. Why would a drug cartel, which encourages violence, or black market whose purpose is to smuggle illegal substances exist if no laws were in place? One can only imagine violence rates in the ghettos would decrease, as drug dealers would be unnecessary, and people would start looking for jobs and creating jobs instead of feeding off the United States" bankrupt system and selling illegal substances.

Since Marijuana does have an impact on "decision time and trajectory," it obviously contains worrying psychological effects. It has been shown, those who smoked Marijuana regularly through their teens lost around eight I.Q points, and blossomed "impaired coordination, difficulty with thinking and problem solving, and disrupted learning and memory" (DrugFacts). Evidence exists marijuana has the ability to worsen psychiatric issues for people who are predisposed to them and brings them on at a younger age.
On the other hand, Alcohol alters speech, creates hazy thinking, slows reaction time, dulls hearing impairs vision, weakens muscles, fogs memory and annihilates brain neurons. Ultimately Alcohol; triggers the brain"s frontal lobe creating crazed thoughts and emotions which can often lead an individual to make regretful choices, attacks the Medulla which controls a subject"s breathing and heartbeat, affects the Hiccompas or memory section (sometimes for an extended period of time), damages the RAS, which creates the need for sleep and naps, and attacks many other important brain functions (Alcohol and Your Brain). While Marijuana has been linked to two deaths per year, over 10,022 women, children and men are killed per year because of the insane irrationality alcohol causes while driving, (GET INVOLVED). Over 88,000 deaths are the result of alcoholism. Therefor, any person who supports alcohol and argues against the legalisation Marijuana is biased.
In response to affected coordination, why do so many adored, healthy athletes smoke or sip weed before the "big game?" An Oregon athlete responded to a newscast saying, "Purple kush (weed,) it"s pretty much all I smoke" (Sam Allipur). Another athlete stated, "We factor in marijuana as a red flag. Some teams, if a guy tests positive, he's off their board. But other teams say, 'Screw it, he's a good player" (Sam Allipur).
Arguments constantly arise concerning the possible physical impairments of marijuana inhalation. Interestingly, unlike tobacco, which claims around 480,000 lives a year, marijuana is not known to be a cause of lung cancer. Weed, has, however been linked to a quite painful swelling of the chest or lungs (Brownstein).
Remarkably, Marijuana has actually assisted in the easing of pain of HIV positive patients, the unfortunates suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis and nausea (Medical Marijuana). "Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day" (Medical Marijuana). For a terminally ill cancer patient, a dose of dopamine and relief from constant and grueling pain would be one of the kindest and peaceful ways to pass away. Is this not a better alternative for a patient than being knocked out by painkillers, generally depressed, and unable to enjoy his/her last few moments with his/her family? Why are alcohol and tobacco, which have no health benefits, legal, while marijuana has health benefits and is illegal?

In order to have the marijuana issue civilly settled, it should be presented to each state as an individual issue, rather a federal issue. In short terms, it should be settled within the branches of states" rights.
Marijuana should be legalized. Unlike tobacco and alcohol, Marijuana has been shown to possess health benefits, to be safer. The constant feud of Marijuana simply leaves an open door for police force insecurity, drug cartel violence and alternative ways for people to generate a source of income while get hand outs. The laws on Marijuana simply view a person as stupid and irresponsible.